Fusee lighter



May 17, 1949. McKOWN 2,470,358

FUSEE LIGHTER Filed July 18, 1947 1 Glen. D. M KEN/TL A no may:

Patented May 17, 1949 iPAT oFFicE This invention relates to an improvedmeans for igniting or lighting fuss of the type generally a visualwarning signal.

invention to'provide a lighting or igniting attachmnt a-daptedto-formapart of thefusee and which can be quickly actuated for igniting thefusee body to permit the visual warning signal produced thereby to berendered operative in minimum of time and which is extremely importantin order that the visual signal can be given in time to produce itssafety affect.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a lighter origniting means for a fusee which can be actuated with safety and whichis so constructed that prior to use there is no danger of the fusee bodybeing inadvertently ignited due to negligence or improper handlingthereof.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafterbecome more fully apparent from the following description of thedrawing, illustrating a preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the igniting attachment;

Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the various parts attachedto the fusee body for normally maintaining the igniting attachment in aninoperative position;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary side elevational view showing the ignitingattachment partially assembled on the fusee body;

Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the fusee body with the ignitingattachment fully assembled thereon; I

Figure :5 is a fragmentary longitudinal, substantially central sectionalview of the upper portion of the fusee body containing the ignitingattachment, and

Figure 6 is a perspective view showing the fusee and igniting attachmentas held for igniting the fusee body.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the numeral 8 designatesgenerally a fusee body which is formed of a slow burning compositioncharacterized by the emission of a colored light and which is moldedinto an elongated cylindrical form and enclosed except for its upper endin a tube or coating of a suitable protective material 9 which willlikewise burn or melt readily when the body 8 is ignited. As best seenin Figure 5, the fusee body 8 has a convex upper end [0 which protrudesslightly above the upper, open end of the tube 9 and at least the topcentral portion of empmyed for producinga colored fire *to utilize asMor fparticularly itisan aim of the present aolaims. (e1; 102-70)"W-Hibli eoated'or otherwise provided with a matehnead *0!similarigniting material I l.

--''I-l'1'e"=lighting attachment; designated generally i25 'includesanelongated. strip'pf "a relatively trong and"flexibleiabric l3,'such asmuslin. A

tape 1 3 and so that it will be disposed closer to one end than to theother end thereof. The outer or exposed side of the disk M has a coating16 suitably secured thereto of a striking material such as redphosphorus which when scraped across the match head material II willcause the latter to ignite.

A folded piece I! of a fabric, such as muslin, is applied over the endID of the fusee body 8 and accordingly over the igniting material II andthe striking material l6 of the disk I is then positioned against theopposite side of the protective piece or pad 11, as best seen in Figure3, and so that the disk M will be disposed substantially in alignmentwith the fusee body 8. The shorter end I8 of the tape i3 is thensuitably secured as by means of a bonding medium or otherwise, notshown, longitudinally of and to the outer side of the tube 9, as bestillustrated in Figures 3 and 5, and the other, longer end H! of the tape[3 is extended longitudinally of the protective tube 9 and on theopposite side thereof to the shorter, secured end I8.

Said end of the fusee and the parts applied thereto are then enclosed ina wrapper or cap 20 of paper or other material capable of being readilytorn and which is wrapped around the upper end of the fusee and foldedover the tape I3, disk 14 and pad I! and secured in cap form, asillustrated in Figure 4, as by means of paste, glue or other bondingmedium, not shown, and so that only the extremity or the longer end 19,of the tape l3 will protrude from the open end of said cap 20 to form atab adapted to be readily grasped between the fingers.

To ignite the fusee'body 8, the fusee is grasped and held with eitherhand and the tab [9 is grasped between the fingers of the other hand andan outward pull is exerted thereon and which will cause the cap 28 to betorn off. With the fusee held at an angle of about 45-degrees, asillustrated in Figure 6, after the Wrapping or cap 20 has thus been tornaway from the fusee, by the outward pull on the tab l9, the pad I1 willdrop by gravity from its position between the elements H and I6, due tothe pull on the longer end of the tape 13 in a direction away from thefusee. The manually held end 19 of the tape can then be moved back andforth in a direction generally around the fusee body for scraping thestriking surface l6 across the igniting material II for igniting thelatter, and which will ignite the upper, convex end ID of the fusee body8, after which the secured end l8 of the tape [3 is torn ofi of the tube9, so that the fusee B can burn unobstructed.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously beresorted to, without departing from the spirit or scope of the inventionas hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a fusee lighter, in combination with a fusee body having ignitingor match head material fixed to one end thereof, a flexible tape havingone end bonded longitudinally to the fusee body, a striking elementcarried by said tape and disposed over the end of the fusee bodycontaining the igniting or match head material and disposed in opposedrelationship thereto, a. protective member interposed between thestriking material and match head material, and a wrapper of a readilytearable material enclosing said end of the fusee body and the portionsdisposed therebeyond, the opposite end of said tape being longer thanthe first mentioned, secured end thereof to protrude beyond the open endof said wrapper to form a. tab adapted to be manually engaged and pulledin a direction away from the fusee body for tearing the wrapper from thefusee body and for releasing said member interposed between the strikingsurface and igniting material whereby said tab end of the tape may beswung relatively to the fusee body for scraping the striking elementacross the igniting material for igniting the latter and the adjacentportion of the fusee body.

2. A fusee lighter as in claim 1, said tape having a disk secured to oneside thereof and to the exposed side of which the striking element issecured.

GLEN D. McKOWN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 607,581 Wood July 19, 18981,153,087 Jackson Sept. 7, 1915 1,301,655 Conley Apr. 22, 1919 2,389,782Jackson NOV. 27, 1945 2,412,018 Vinton et a1. Dec. 3, 1946

